Carissa Adamaris
by xXFrostKittenXx
Summary: LJ Poke100 Challenge. Carissa Adamaris is many things. She's seventeen, and an avid runner. Now, though, she's adding "High School Dropout" and "Pokemon Trainer" to that list.
1. Chapter 1: Gift

**A/N: Welcome to my new project! I'm working on several things right now, which is why nothing's really been updated. In the meantime, I wanted to present this: my second attempt at the Poke100 Challenge. My first attempt is still viewable on my profile. To the person who complained about my choice of starter last time: Is this original enough for you?**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. I do, however, own the character Carissa Adamaris, and reserve the right to use her in other stories, both original and fanfiction.**

* * *

Carissa Adamaris was many things. She was seventeen years old, had a driver's license, and was an avid runner. But she had also skipped so many classes that she was being forced to repeat a year of high school, and so she was adding "absolutely freaking humiliated" to the list, unless she could come up with a plan.

Which she did. In an effort to avoid the humiliation, she decided to add "high school dropout" and "Pokemon Trainer."

Pokemon Trainers were cool. They earned their own way, they battled, and they had these awesome pets. No one had to know that she was being held back a year, they would all think she had just decided to take up training. What could be better?

So, she told her parents and her sister.

Her sister, Mia, gave her a look of horrified fascination. Like she couldn't quite believe that Carissa had arrived at this conclusion, but then again she _could_ , because this was Carissa.

Her parents shared a _look_ , one of those ones that you could swear they're talking to each other. Her dad sighed and nodded, and her mom gave her a weak smile.

"That sounds like it could be good for you," she said carefully. "It could be a lot of fun. We can go shopping tomorrow, okay?"

Carissa grinned. "Great," she said happily. Then, of course, she needed a round of hugs, because wasn't this so exciting?

The next day dawned bright and beautiful. There were some clouds on the horizon, but Carissa was determined to see them as merely rain, not prophetic. Like, at all. Living in Pallet Town, next to the coastline, weather changed quickly but the temperature actually didn't fluctuate too much; she would miss that, she knew.

Mia and her dad took her to get supplies. Mia, who had already been a trainer before going to university, was able to steer her younger sister towards supplies a trainer would need. Their dad, who was an avid camper and hiker, was also able to help point out necessary supplies. Carissa was disappointed that her mother was absent, but she was too busy trying to find still-reasonably-fashionable hiking gear to really think about it. Seriously, when Mia became a trainer, did all her fashion sense get tossed out the window?

When they got back home, her mom was already there, sitting at the kitchen table with a box in front of her. Carissa spared it a curious glance, but then followed Mia upstairs to pack her things.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Mia asked. "I mean, you've never even taken the classes…"

"I still remember what they taught us in grade school," Carissa said breezily, completely missing Mia's concern. "It'll be fun! And really, how hard could it be?" She packed her new gear into the new backpack's storage capsules.

Mia sighed. "You know, I really should try harder to keep you from going," she told Carissa. She clearly had her doubts about how well Carissa could handle this, Carissa could see it on her face. "All I'm going to say is, this will either be the best or worst decision you'll ever make."

Carissa made a face. "Wow, dramatic much?"

Mia just laughed. "You'll see what I mean soon enough," she said. Together, they packed away the last few things.

There was a knock on Carissa's door. She opened it and found her father on the other side. "Can you come downstairs? Your mother and I would like to speak to you."

She nodded. "Just give me one sec, I'll be right down."

She almost didn't want to go downstairs.

Now that she was all packed, ready to head out tomorrow, she felt the first twinges of doubt. Was this a good idea, really? Was the reason good? But they'd already gotten everything from the store, and packed, and…well, she couldn't back down now, could she? She had to at least try.

She could feel Mia staring at her, but she didn't turn around. "Alright," she said aloud. "Let's go."

Her parents were waiting in the living room. Her dad had one arm around her mom's shoulder, and her mom was holding the box in her lap. They smiled at her when she came down.

"What's up?" she asked cheerfully, skipping the last stair with a jump.

"Carissa," her mom began. Then she sighed. "I just want you to know how proud I am of you. How proud we both are." She tapped the box gently. "We wanted to give this to you. You can't start without your starter, right?"

Carissa's eyes widened and she squeaked. "Really?" She knew she needed one, but she had assumed they were going to pick one out later today or tomorrow. Was that what her mom had been gone for?

Her dad passed the box to her. "Well, of course." He grinned at her. "Did you think we forgot?"

Carissa took the box, trying to keep her hands steady while she did so, and opened it. Inside, nestled into foam to keep it from being jostled around, was a single PokeBall and a handheld computer—a Pokedex. The Pokedex, she already knew, would serve as her ID and training license, so she was much more interested in the PokeBall, but still…

"Why don't we go out back?" her dad suggested. "Then you can let your starter out, get to know it before you leave."

Carissa nodded and led the way to the backyard. Out there, hidden from the neighbors' view by a privacy fence and under the expectant looks of her family, Carissa couldn't help but hesitate. Just for a moment, so she could take a breath and wonder what her mom had picked out.

Part of her wondered if her mom had picked out something cutesy, like an Eevee or a Vulpix. Or maybe one of the baby Pokemon, like Chingling or Togepi or Pichu.

Another part wondered if her dad had had any say in the decision. He would have likely gotten her some uber protective Pokemon, like Houndour or Growlithe or something.

"I'm about to find out," she murmured to herself. She tossed the PokeBall into the air, releasing the contents in a bright flash of white light.

Light that quickly formed into a round shape on two long legs that ended in talons. Two long, dark, thin necks with heads as round as its body. Two beaks that clicked at her expectantly.

"Mia suggested it, believe it or not," her mom explained after Carissa didn't say anything. "Since you like to run, she thought it would be a good idea to get you a Pokemon that loves to run, too."

"I love it!" Carissa laughed out loud. Then she grabbed the bird into a hug. Both heads squawked in surprise. She couldn't believe it! A Doduo? She had never seen anyone start with one before.

After she was done hugging the bird, she turned to her parents. "Thank you!" She all but tackled them in her excitement. "Thank you, thank you!"

Her sister's words about this being the best or worst decision came back to her, and she smiled. Maybe Mia was right, and it was going to be difficult. But right now, she couldn't help but think this was the best decision she had ever made.


	2. Chapter 2: Soul

**A/N: First, I want to say, this prompt was freaking hard. Partly because she's not a very spiritual person, which requires getting a bit creative with the Soul prompt, but mostly because Carissa's a freaking ditz. No seriously, she's like Buffy before the ex-cheerleader got serious about slaying, except worse, because at least Buffy had something to do with herself and goals. Carissa? Not so much. Hopefully I can start working in the character development soon…the next prompt** ** _is_** **Devotion…**

Leaving Carissa's hometown of Pallet for Viridian City was more exciting than she ever wanted to admit to. She had, of course, been to Viridian before, but she had always gone on the main road by car, or occasionally bus. Now she was walking along Route 1, one of the "trainer trails."

Beside her was her Doduo. Who she still hadn't nicknamed. She was a bit confused on whether she should name each head or what. There was the whole identical brains thing, but she also knew they acted independently.

And wasn't that a shocker. She had settled down to sleep with Doduo next to her, a nice little warm ball of feathery fluff. Then something woke her up—she wasn't sure what, probably just a Pokemon in the bushes—and there was her Doduo, one head tucked next to his body, the other wide awake and looking around alertly. Then, to her complete amazement, the sleeping head woke up and the awake head settled down next to his body to sleep.

And yes, she knew it was male. It had dark necks, a sign of the male of the species. She knew she could be a little oblivious, but she wasn't _stupid_ , no matter what that trainer she battled earlier thought.

But back to the road. She was on her way to Viridian, but she wouldn't be staying too long. Maybe long enough to find a female Nidoran. It wasn't like she could challenge the gym; Giovanni still refused to take challengers with less than seven badges.

But what was she going to do afterwards? Go to Pewter City and challenge Brock? Do the whole gym circuit thing? She supposed it could be fun, but thinking about doing only that left her with a hollow feeling.

She wondered if that was what Mia had always meant by "knowing." Mia had always described it as a soul-deep knowledge that you could or couldn't do something, or that you should or shouldn't. Did that hollow feeling mean she should find another goal? Certainly it seemed like everyone and their Charmander took that route, and she didn't want to walk in everyone else's footsteps. She wanted to do something _fun._ Different.

Still a badge wasn't a bad goal to go for. At least until she figured stuff out.

The tricky thing was, there wasn't too many things she could do to still qualify as a "trainer" and keep her license. Gather badges, gather ribbons, become a Ranger, or join the League and train to become an Ace. Nothing super exciting.

Maybe she should focus on what Pokemon she wanted to catch. Clearly a female Nidoran, because she wanted a Nidoqueen, and maybe somehow get a Lapras? They were so rare, but she would love to have one and just sail around the sea for days and days. And maybe a Scyther…

She felt a little less hollow at least…

Finally she sighed. She could figure it out later. Right now, though, she was going to keep walking along.

After another half hour of walking, she was becoming bored. Far more so than she thought. Where were all the trainers to battle? All the wild Pokemon? Surely they didn't all hang around in the tall grass, avoiding the road?

Not that battling wild Pokemon was really fun. She didn't want to catch any of them, so Doduo was pretty much just grinding up experience right now, and most of the competition was now seriously underleveled. But it would break up the monotony, which she would be forever grateful for.

So a few minutes later, when she saw a ten year old hanging around the trail, she actually squealed in delight. The boy looked up, eyes wide with alarm, and instinctively took a step back.

"Nope!" she crowed happily. "Too late! Our eyes met!" Finally, another battle! She was so bored. The kid just groaned.

"Come on, this isn't fair," he protested. "I just started last week!"

"That's great, so did I!"

The kid blinked. "Really?" He grinned. "Alright then, one-on-one?"

She pushed the bad joke that immediately sprang to mind into a corner and nodded. "Doduo, you ready?" The bird squawked.

"Come on out, Charmander!"

Of course. A kid with a lab starter, not really surprising, but did it have to be Charmander? _Everyone_ chose Charmander. Why not Squirtle for once, or Bulbasaur? But she refrained from whining, snorted at him, and said, "Doduo, Quick Attack."

"Scratch!"

Despite knowing her Doduo could probably dodge, she didn't order him to. She felt bad about her starter taking damage that could have been avoided, yeah, but she also knew she would feel worse if the kid ended up crying because she crushed him without taking said damage. Never let it be said she's heartless.

"Peck."

Both heads immediately sprang into action, and the Charmander was hard pressed to defend itself. Finally it spat a mouthful of flames out, singing Doduo's feathers in the process, and the bird backed off, hissing in alarm. Carissa frowned; that wasn't supposed to happen. She had thought it would be too weak to have a good grasp on that attack, since the pair had only been training a week. Unless the kid was like her and battled anything that moved.

"Keep using Peck, Doduo!" she yelled.

From there, it didn't take very long. Even if the kid and his Charmander had trained extensively, Doduo had the height advantage and Carissa, while not the smartest crayon in the box, was certainly sharper than a ten year old, and was able to come up with some decent tactics.

The boy grumbled as he handed over half his cash.

"Thank you," she said. "It really was a good try," she added sincerely.

The boy looked slightly shocked, like he'd expected her to gloat and move on. She held back a snort; she was shallow, but not _that_ bitchy. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Well, thanks for the battle. See you around!" The boy nodded and stepped away into the tall grass. Carissa brushed a hand over Doduo's heads gently, looking for any sign of serious injury, and then sprayed him over with a potion. "Come on, Doduo," she murmured gently. "Viridian's waiting for us."


	3. Chapter 3: Devotion

**A/N: From Doduo's POV. I'm working off a theory, btw, and that's why it says "he" and not "they." I'll explain it at the bottom.**

…ooo…ooo…

Life used to be simple. Doduo had spent many nights of his first year of life just sleeping, relying on the older members of the flock to keep an eye on things. He had spent many days just running across open fields, racing his yearmates just for the thrill. His human had great hopes for him, and hopes for the glory he would bring.

And then they fell on hard times.

His flock was decimated one by one. Brothers, sisters, cousins, all disappeared one-by-one. And when there was only a handful left, it was his turn.

His human led another human into the enclosure. Doduo, who expected them to take another cousin, was shocked to see them come straight up to him.

"You're right," the other human said. "He's a good specimen. But I've seen better."

And so the negotiations began. At the end of it, Doduo was recalled into his PokeBall for the first time in—well, long enough to forget he even had one, to be honest.

Doduo was terrified. He didn't know much about human speech, so he didn't know what was going on. So he stayed in his PokeBall, watching the world and wishing more than anything that he could go home, but too weak to break out of his PokeBall to do so.

This new life was disheartening. He could sleep on and off, but he couldn't move much. They did not let him out to run around. He was put on a shelf, between a Cleffa and an Eevee, where humans sometimes would look at him, but he was usually passed by for another. He did not understand why they chose others when he had always been told he was a good runner.

He was not sure how long he stayed there, on that shelf. The stasis made it hard to keep track. But one day, he saw a human walk in. Not very interesting or new in itself, but by then he had picked up human speech, and the conversation was interesting.

"My daughter's starting late," the human said. "She's seventeen."

The human who bought him replied, "How wonderful for her! I suppose she'll want a Vulpix or a Skitty…" Doduo knew that most she-chicks preferred cute Pokemon, judging by how often their hens bought things like the Eevee that used to be next to him.

"Well, my other daughter had a recommendation," the new human admitted. "A Doduo. Do you have one?"

"Oh! Of course! Your daughter likes to run?"

"She loves it!"

His PokeBall was lifted off the shelf. His heart pounded in excitement. Someone chose him! He would hopefully be able to run around soon!

Then his PokeBall was placed in a box with some red thing, and Doduo felt his heart sink again.

He stayed in darkness for a long time, and it was even more miserable and terrifying than staying on the shelf. There was no _light._

Time seemed to stretch on and on. The box he was placed in made him feel even more claustrophobic than the PokeBall did, which at least promised he might eventually be free.

After what felt like forever, his box was opened. He shut his eyes against the sudden light; even diffused through the red top of the PokeBall, it was bright. While his eyes readjusted, he was ferried outside.

Before he knew it, he was free, standing on grass for the first time in forever. He recognized the human who had picked him, but there were three others he didn't recognize, including the blonde human in front of him.

The human seemed happy. It was making that weird face that his human used to make when it was happy, anyway. Then it squeaked, launched itself at him, and hugged him around both necks.

It was surprising, and he didn't move at first. Then, after a few minutes, he relaxed.

…ooo…ooo…

Their first two weeks together were a little weird. Doduo found himself adjusting all over again, to another new situation.

He had never spent any significant time around humans before, not even _his_ human. So he found their habits equal parts amusing and horrifying.

He had always thought humans would sleep with one eye open, or something. How else were they supposed to tell when something snuck up on them? They didn't have two heads like a Doduo, after all. But then, on their first night on the road, the blonde human settled down for sleep and _closed both eyes._ It left Doduo absolutely shocked, and he realized then why humans captured Pokemon to begin with; the poor things couldn't look after themselves properly.

So he settled down next to her, not touching her because she wasn't _his_ human, but determined to keep her safe anyway. Then one head closed its eyes, and he watched with the other.

The next day, he discovered something rather nice. The human he was travelling with like to leave him out of his PokeBall a _lot._ And the human liked to run, as well, which just tickled him. So they ran together. He couldn't go full out like he was used to, but he found running with the human almost as much fun as running with his flock had been.

The first battle they shared was exhilarating. He had only ever been used to running, not battling, so at first he froze up. But she would always give an order, and he found that as long as he had that order, he knew what to do. If he knew what to do, he wouldn't freeze.

But he didn't like battling, and he didn't think the blonde human did either. They battled almost everything they came across, but it felt like they were just distracting themselves. Well, he knew it was just a distraction to him, but he had the distinct feeling it was also to her. He wondered if she would like racing.

After a while, he began to feel comfortable with her. She wasn't such a bad human. She wasn't mean to him, and often took the time to look him over after battles, much like his human had looked him over after races. But she wasn't his human, not yet. Maybe not ever.

But she wasn't so bad.

…ooo…ooo…

 **A/N: Alright, thanks for reading all the way to the end! Now, as a reward, my current theory of Doduo.**

 **So, according to the Pokedex, Doduo has two identical brains, one in each head. Occasionally, the brains are different, but the chance is extremely slim. This situation reminded me of Zweilous, who also has two heads, but the heads always bicker.**

 **My theory is that for most Doduo, who have two identical brains, there is one personality who merely has two heads. Two beaks, two sets of eyes, but ultimately, one personality. One soul. If they have different brains, there is two personalities.**

 **As for Zweilous, well…since the heads always bicker, that means there must be two personalities. I've seen this best demonstrated in the story Lola: An Underdog Story (which is amazing and easily makes my top ten). Since the Doduo heads don't bicker, that must mean there's only one.**

 **Or at least that's what it seems like to me, so that's what I'll be using for this story.**


End file.
